Bloody Hands
by fl4sh
Summary: Artemis goes down-Hard. KF's hands have her blood on them. Can the team forgive him? Can KF forgive him Can Artemis ever forgive him? First time writing a fan-fic. Open to tips. Please review. Thanks! Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: I dont own YJ. If I did, it would still be running. This takes place before Artemis reveals her family relations and after Failsafe. Spitfire fan-fiiction.
1. Chapter 1

"Artemis, watch out!" cried Kid Flash as he sped towards her.

Artemis quickly dodged the attack made by Cheshire and was instantly joined by Kid Flash at her side.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she responded, "just make sure Sportsmaster doesn't get away with the Kobra venom."

"Got it!"

Kid Flash was then off on his pursuit of Sportsmaster who was running back to his helicopter with the Kobra venom.

Kid Flash in a couple seconds caught up and was able to snag the case with the venom from Sportsmaster. He then ran back to Artemis so they could return to the Bioship, but as he ran towards Artemis, Sportsmaster, who had been chasing Kid Flash, swung his chained weapon at him. Kid Flash ducked to avoid the attack, but only to create a clear path directly at Artemis. She was hit head-on, _literally_ and collapsed, blood surrounded her head quickly, dying her blonde hair crimson red. Kid Flash raced to Artemis in distraught. Cheshire couldn't keep her eyes off Artemis and was overcome with terror as she stared at her unconscious baby sister. Sportsmaster stood frozen, mouth wide open, regretting his action, but quickly became enraged and pulled out a gun aimed at Kid Flash. However, he had his gun ripped away from his hand by one of Robin's batarangs. Sportsmaster and Cheshire instinctively retreated back to their helicopter as the rest of the Team arrived in the Bioship. When they all departed off the Bioship all eyes were diverted to the inert archer who was now blood-soaked even though Kid Flash had wrapped her head. M'gann gasped in appall and sobbed into Superboy's chest while both Robin and Superboy struggled to look at the horror that lay in front of them.

"What happened?" asked Aqualad firmly.

The question was directed towards Kid Flash, but he didn't respond. He was on his knees, clenching his teeth, eyes wide open with fear and guilt and both hands on the side of his head violently gripping his red hair—red because of the blood on his hands.

"I can still hear her heartbeat!" announced Superboy, "but faintly."

"We need to get her to the Bioship quickly!" Aqualad directed.

Superboy was soon at Artemis' side picking her up without giving a glance towards Kid Flash. Superboy carried Artemis back to the Bioship while Aqualad and M'gann followed.

Robin went over to Kid Flash, who was still in the same position, and put his hand on his shoulder and said as reassuringly as he could, "She's gonna be alright Wally, don't worry." Kid Flash, still disheveled at what just happened, slowly rose and kept repeating, "It's all my fault." in a low whisper as Robin helped him to the Bioship.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone was aboard the Bioship and was seated except for Artemis who M'gann had the Bioship create a table for to lay on and a monitor to track her heart rate. Kid Flash had finally relaxed his body but he was clearly angered. Not at Sportsmaster though, but at himself. Laden with guilt he kept replaying the scene over and over again going over multiple scenarios; one where he was fast enough to grab her, another were he took out Sportsmaster before running back, but the one he kept replaying the most was where he takes the hit instead of her, where he would be the one soaked in blood, while everyone else wondered if he was alive or not. He had her blood on his hands both figuratively and literally, convincing himself that it was all his fault. Meanwhile, Superboy was talking to Aqualad in a clearly irritated voice while glaring at Kid Flash, but focused his full attention to Aqualad after concluding that Kid Flash wasn't going to make eye contact.

"Argh! How could he let this happen! Isn't he supposed be fast enough to break the sound barrier? Then how did he let Artemis get hit, especially a blow like that!" pointing his finger toward Artemis' wound in vexation and basically making it clear that he was angry with Kid Flash, especially since he was talking loud enough for everyone to hear.

Aqualad, noticing this tried to rationalize with Superboy, "You must calm down Superboy. I'm sure Kid Flash did everything he could to protect Artemis. He has proven that on many occasions."

"Pff! He could care less about Artemis. He's proven _that_ on many occasions." retorted Superboy.

Kid Flash hearing this hung his head in chagrin. Suddenly, the Boy Wonder poked his head next to Kid Flash's head cushion.

"Hey Wally, I know you think that what happened to Artemis was your fault, and Superboy is helping much with that either, but you did the best that you could."

Kid Flash scoffed at this statement and while still hanging his head, replied in an apathetic tone.

"How would _you_ know if I did the best that I could?"

"Because I'm your best pal," Robin stated proudly "and also because I know how you feel about Artemis."

Kid Flash raised his head to this and blushed slightly.

"W-what are you talking about Rob?" stammered Kid Flash.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Wally. I'm the right-hand man to the world's best detective and you didn't think I'd pick up on something as obvious as your crush on Artemis?"

Kid Flash was still trying to act dumbfounded but it was evident that he'd been figured out. Once Kid Flash realized that Robin wasn't buying his act he accepted defeat and replied shamefully.

"Well, it doesn't even matter anymore. She might not even make it and even if she does it's my fault she got hurt. Why would she want to be with me after that let alone even talk to me? Plus she hates my guts already so this just adds to injuries – literally."

Robin put his hand on Wally's shoulders.

"She will make it. And you don't know all that."

When Kid Flash heard this he violently whipped himself around to face Robin and lashed out. Simultaneously, everyone stared at them.

"What are you talking about? I do know all that, everyone does! Everyone knows that Artemis hates me, and everyone knows that I'm the biggest jerk ever! I make fun of her and bash on her all the time just for my own amusement not even considering how it makes her feel! I lower her self-esteem and always blame her when things go wrong even when I know it's not! And now, I can complete my resume by being able to put that I killed Artemis!"

Tears ran down Kid Flash's face as he continued in a softer tone.

"And you know what the worst part is? You're right. I do like Artemis – in fact I _love_ Artemis. I'm about to kill my first love. Who else other than me could do something as dumb as that?"

Robin sat there nonplussed, only sympathy in his eyes.

"We're here." said M'gann tentatively and also looking at Kid Flash with sympathy.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone boarded off the Bioship with Kid Flash trailing behind. Superboy and Aqualad rushed Artemis to the infirmary in Mount Justice. M'gann, after doing something with the Bioship met them in the infirmary. Robin hung back with Kid Flash.

"Are you sure you don't want to go? We're all gonna be there."

"Exactly, I don't want to be there if she, you know..."

Wally looked down to hold back his tears.

"Wally, she's gonna be fine and none of us blame you for what happened to Artemis."

Robin said this in a tone basically pleading Wally to believe him.

"Tell that to Superboy."

"Wally you know how he is. That's just how he deals with his pain. He didn't mean any of it."

"Yeah, whatever. Just tell her I said I'm sorry."

Robin, in a more serious tone.

"No. You tell her."

Then walked off to the infirmary.

After standing where he was for a couple of seconds while Robin's words lingered, Kid Flash went to his room. He sat at the edge of his bed and stuffed his face into his hands with his fingers clawing at his temples as he screamed at himself in his head.

"Argh! Why am I such a jerk!"

Letting out a groan.

"What will Artemis think if she wakes up and sees that I'm the only one that's not there? She's gonna hate me even more, if that's possible, considering all the terrible things I've done to her."

Kid Flash plopped onto his bed exhausted physically, mentally, and especially emotionally, so it wasn't hard for him to doze off.

Meanwhile in the infirmary Robin had just walked in.

"How is she?" Robin asked.

"The doctors have just hooked her up to the monitors and are attaching tubes to replenish the vast amount of blood she lost. She's still breathing, but barely." responded Aqualad.

All four looked at Artemis with concern, all anxious for the doctor's analysis of her. Superboy then noticed that Kid Flash didn't walk in with Robin.

"Where's Wally?" he asked with frustration in both his eyes and tone.

"He's-"but before Robin could finish the doctor walked over to the present members of the Team and reported Artemis' analysis.

"Well she's lost a large amount of blood, but we're trying to compensate for that right now. However, her head wound is of a high degree. She has a cracked skull and she definitely has a concussion. She will live, but we most operate now."

"Understood Doctor. Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated." responded Aqualad as the Team exited the infirmary.

"So tell me now, where's Wally." demanded Superboy.

"I don't know, last place I left him was in the living room."

They all walked into the living room, but didn't see Kid Flash.

"I'm not surprised. I bet he ran off. So much for Artemis being the love of his life." snickered Superboy.

Robin clenched his fist and furrowed his eyebrows in anger.

"Enough!" imploded Robin.

"I'm sick and tired of you always bashing on Wally! I know he comes off as a jerk and reckless but that's just how he is, okay? Wally would never try to put any of us in danger so why don't you just calm down and worry about yourself!"

"As if, he's more concerned about impressing my girlfriend than he is about the safety of this team."

"If you really think that, then you don't know Wally at all."

Right when Superboy was going to retort back, the doctor entered the room.

"We've finished operating. The surgery went better than planned."

"Can we see her now?" asked M'gann.

"Yes, of course."

The four teens followed the doctor back into the infirmary. They all surrounded Artemis' bed. She slowly opened her eyes. Once her vision became clear she acknowledged them with a 'Hey'.

"How are you feeling Artemis?" asked M'gann.

"My head feels like I've been punched by Superboy, but I'll manage."

Giving them one of her famous smirks.

The whole team laughed except for Kid Flash which Artemis had just realized wasn't there with them.

"Hey, where's Kid Idiot?"

The tone in her voice made it clear that she was hurt, but because she called him Kid Idiot no one paid much attention to it.

"We don't know." Superboy said sternly, glaring at Robin.

Robin, after giving Superboy a look said, "Well wherever he is, I'm sure he's worried about you."

"Doubt it." Artemis said looking down in disappointment.

The room became silent.

"Uhh, I'm starting to feel a little tired now guys. Can you-"

"Oh. Yea. Of Course. You need your rest" Robin said awkwardly.

"Sleep well Artemis, glad you're okay." said Aqualad.

"Thanks Kaldur."

The team then left the room, leaving Artemis alone.

Artemis' head was starting to throb with immense pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain that she felt when she didn't see Wally among her friends in the infirmary. She felt heart-broken, and thought back to their previous battle with Cheshire and Sportsmaster. She thought back to when Wally asked if she was okay, and how sincere and worried he sounded. She thought back to when he rushed to her side ready to protect her. She thought back to when she gave him an order and he complied without challenging her. She thought back to when she saw him almost get hit by Sportsmaster's spiked ball and how helpless and paralyzed she felt. She thought back at the number of times she replayed his imminent death in her mind and how much pain she felt at that moment. But then she thought back to when he ducked, leaving her to be the victim of her father's attack, which almost killed her. She thought back to when she didn't see him in the infirmary with the rest of her friends. She thought back to all the times that they bickered and how angry he made her and how he hated her. Artemis became infuriated and spastic out of frustration with her conflicting feelings but immediately passed out due to the raise in her blood pressure.


	4. Chapter 4

When Artemis woke up, she found M'gann with a plate of breakfast in her hand.

"Here, I thought you'd be hungry since you haven't eaten in two days."

"Two days!?" Artemis exclaimed.

"Shh! Calm down Artemis. We don't want to cause your blood pressure to rise again. You lost a lot of blood and your body needs some time to assimilate to the amount of blood that you had to receive. "

M'gann raised the bed up so Artemis could be in a sitting position. Artemis was still bewildered, but after a few seconds, she become settled and eagerly ate. As Artemis was stuffing eggs down her throat, M'gann told her she had something to show her.

"What is it?" Artemis asked mouth full, looking around to see what M'gann was talking about.

"Haha, it's not here. I'll show you after you finish eating."

Artemis quickly devoured the rest of the food and nodded towards M'gann to indicate she was ready.

"Okay, but you have to be careful not to strain yourself. Can you walk?" asked M'gann.

"Yea, I think so."

Artemis twisted herself around so her feet dangled off the bed. She step down with her left foot first and then her right while M'gann held her arm for support. They walked like this to the door where Artemis said she could walk herself.

"Okay then, follow me."

Artemis followed M'gann.

"Where are we going?" asked Artemis.

"The Bioship." responded M'gann.

"What do you have to show me in the Bioship?" Artemis asked suspiciously.

"You'll see."

Once they reached the Bioship, M'gann helped Artemis into it.

"Okay, so what do you need to show me?" Artemis asked again.

M'gann psychicly connected herself with the Bioship and had it play a video.

_"__What are you talking about? I do know all that, everyone does! Everyone knows that Artemis hates me, and everyone knows that I'm the biggest jerk ever! I make fun of her and bash on her all the time just for my own amusement not even considering how it makes her feel! I lower her self-esteem and always blame her when things go wrong even when I know it's not! And now, I can complete my resume by being able to put that I killed Artemis!_

_And you know what the worst part is? You're right. I do like Artemis – in fact I love Artemis. I'm about to kill my first love. Who else other than me could do something as dumb as that?" _

_"__We're here."_

Artemis stood frozen, mouth open in amazement, tears running down her face. M'gann looked at her with a soft smile and said.

"He loves you."

Simultaneously Artemis said.

"He loves me?"

M'gann just stared at Artemis with happiness sprinkled over her face.

"Thank you M'gann, but why?"

"I saw how hurt you were when you didn't see Wally in the infirmary with us and I didn't want you to think that Wally was just being a jerk. So I kept thinking how I could prove it, and then I remembered, "Hello Megan!", that I asked the Bioship to save the video of Wally opening up because I knew it would come in handy one day, and it did!"

When M'gann said this she had a giant grin on her face the whole time and still did, as if her cheeks were being pulled up by some outside force. Artemis rushed towards M'gann and gave her a big hug while thanking her for doing what she did. Artemis was going to go see Wally but realized she didn't know where he was.

"Umm. Do you know where Wally is M'gann?"

"He's been in his room ever since the mission."

M'gann said this in a worried tone as her eyes dropped.

"Thanks! You're the best!" complimented Artemis as she gave M'gann another quick hug leaving her in the Bioship confused.

Artemis rushed to Wally's room. When she was right outside his door, she took in a deep breath to prepare what she was going to say. She knocked on his door, but no reply. She knocked on it again, still no reply. She then started banging on the door when she heard his whiny voice groan and yell, "Who is it!"

"It's me Baywatch, now open up the door before I bust it down myself." Artemis threatened.

She almost had a hard time threatening him because she never realized how much she loved the sound of his whiny voice.

Wally sat up in surprise because he didn't expect her to ever talk to him again, but also because he never realized how much he missed the sound of her voice, especially when it was so authoritative. He heard another bang.

"I'm serious, open up!" she said.

Wally quickly got out of his bed and opened up the door.

"Hey…" he said awkwardly.

"Hey." she said in the same tone that his mom has when he's in trouble.

Picking up on this, his eyes widened and he started to sweat.

"Umm, I'm glad you're okay." he could feel the sweat sliding down the back of his neck.

"Oh are you?" she said half sarcastically and half suspiciously. "Cause I didn't see you in the infirmary with everyone else?"

"Oh, umm, yeah! I'm really sorry about that, I meant to but I got caught up in something. But I really am glad that you're okay and I'm also really sorry I'm the one that got you hurt." he said.

"Mhmm. So…you admit to doing this to me on purpose!" she said emphatically.

"Yeah! I mean no! I mean… I didn't mean to do it on purpose I'm just saying that if I didn't screw up so much, you wouldn't have gotten hit, that's all." he said while rubbing his arm and with defeat in his eyes and posture.

"Yeah, you're probably right." she agreed.

"Thanks, but its tru-, wait what?" he said caught off guard.

"What? I'm just agreeing with you?" she said with an innocent smile.

"Well you're not supposed to do that!" he argued.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she asked curiously.

"Umm, I don't know? Disagree with me. You're supposed to say something like, 'It wasn't your fault.' 'It's okay I forgive you.' Something like that, not agree with me!" he explained.

"Well that's just stupid." she said with a smirk on her face.

"Ugh! I can't believe this! You know what, whatever, I'm just glad you're okay. " he said, but obviously still angry.

"Wow, some kind of apology, especially since you're the one that almost got me killed." she said insultingly.

Eyes widened, seething with anger he screamed, "You are UNBELIEVABLE! Goodbye!"

As he was about to slam the door shut, when she said, "I love you."

He looked at her confused for a second but then realized what she had just said. Then in sync, Wally and Artemis said, "I love you." sharing a kiss right after.

"Knew it."

Robin said as he walked by them with his infamous cackle and smirk.


End file.
